Yangjiang City, Guangdong Province, south China - April 11, 2026 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Smart Dragon-3 carrier rocket blasting off during offshore launch

China successfully sent a test satellite for satellite internet technology into space on Saturday.

The satellite was launched at 19:32 Beijing Time (1132 GMT) atop a Smart Dragon-3 (SD-3) carrier rocket from waters off the coast of Yangjiang, a city in south China's Guangdong Province. The satellite has entered the planned orbit.

The offshore launch was conducted by the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. It marked the 11th mission of the SD-3 rocket.

With a total length of 31 meters and a weight of 140 tons, the SD-3 is part of China's Dragon rocket family. Unlike the Long March rockets, which form the backbone of the country's space-launch vehicles, the Dragon series has been developed specifically to meet the growing market demand for launches of small commercial low-orbit satellites and satellite networks.